Time Cut movie review: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry-starrer is a timid slasher engagement

Time Cut still

Film: Time Cut (Netflix)
Cast: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Michael Shanks
Director: Hannah Macpherson
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 90 min

An intriguing time-travel thriller, "Time Cut" takes its characters back in time to 2003, in order to stop a serial killer. Screenwriters Michael Kennedy and writer/director Hannah MacPherson serve up an unobjectionable slasher movie that goes mild on the blood and gore content. Aimed at a younger audience even the violence is more verbal than graphic.

It's 2024, Lucy (Madison Bailey) raised in the shadow of her sibling Summer (Antonia Gentry)'s horrific murder, is struggling to come out of the protective control of her overbearing parents. She sees her chance when she is offered a future internship at NASA.

Summer had gone to a farm for a celebration of life with her classmates, and failed to make it out alive, because of a masked killer. When Lucy visits Summer's memorial at the farm, she discovers a hidden laser-based time machine and accidentally activates it. The device takes her back to 2003, when Summer was still alive. Lucy thus, is able to get closer to Summer, and learn more about the sister she's never met. Lucy realises she has the power to alter the course of history and seeks the help of a physics genius,Quinn (Griffin Cluck), in order to get Summer and the others away before the ‘Sweetly Killer' ( since it all happened in Sweetly, Minnesota) can get to them. In order to stymie that fate, Lucy and Quinn have to retrieve antimatter from a nuclear facility to make the time machine run.

There was opportunity in developing Lucy's character after her arrival in the past. But that expectation is never fulfilled. Her view of her life and her family's feelings towards her lacks deeper exploration. The writing feels straitjacketed by generic elements. The dialogue is also rather dull.

The narrative is mildly intriguing and the runtime doesn't tax the attention span. The fashion choices of the past are well represented and so is the music. The film doesn't feel original because ‘Totally Killer', a movie with an almost identical concept, came before it. The inconsistent pacing, underdeveloped characters, and predictable plot-line fritters away any potential. There's no real depth in this telling. The performances from the young cast are competent enough though. MacPherson delivers a fairly engaging, modest slasher movie best suited for the teens. It's another matter that they might find it too mild for their more worldly expectations.